Beijing’s systemic challenge to Britain’s interests and values was growing more acute and the so-called ‘golden era’ of relations with China was over, Britain Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.
The remarks of the Indian-origin PM came at a time when the relationship between both countries strained further after a BBC journalist,working in China, was assaulted and detained while covering the anti-Covid protests in Shanghai.
“Let’s be clear, the so-called ‘golden era’ is over, along with the naive idea that trade would lead to social and political reform,” Rishi Sunak was quoted by Reuters as saying. The Indian-Origin PM, in his first major foreign policy speech, said that Britain’s ‘approach to China needed to evolve and Beijing was “consciously competing for global influence using all the levers of state power’.
The United Kingdom has asked the Chinese government to ‘take note’ of the protests against its strict zero-Covid policy and restrictions on freedom. “Protests against the Chinese government are rare and when they do happen I think the world should take notice, but I think the Chinese government should take notice,”British foreign secretary James Cleverly told the press.
“We recognise China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests, a challenge that grows more acute as it moves towards even greater authoritarianism,” Sunak said as his government condemned Beijing after one of the BBC journalists was assaulted. Last week, London barred Chinese-made security cameras from sensitive buildings.
‘BRITAIN WOULD NOT CHOOSE STATUS QUO’
From global economic stability or issues like climate change, the world cannot simply ignore China’s significance in world affairs, the UK PM pointed out. However, he said that under his leadership, Britain would not choose the ‘status quo and would confront international competitors “not with grand rhetoric but with robust pragmatism”.
Protests against strict Covid measures in China have flared up over the past few days and have spread to other cities with people raising slogans ‘Xi Jinping step down’. Protestors held up blank pieces of paper to express their discontent and acknowledge the censorship as millions been affected by nearly three years of mass testing, quarantines, and snap lockdowns.
Many Conservative MPs in Rishi Sunak’s party have been critical of him, regarding him as less hawkish on China than his predecessor Liz Truss. When the British PM was the finance minister, he called for a nuanced strategy for China to balance human rights concerns while expanding economic ties.